New Miles Davis Bootleg Series triple album to be released
Mike Flynn
Friday, June 17, 2022
Previously unreleased studio sessions and live performances by the iconic trumpeter will be included on That's What Happened 1982-1985: The Bootleg Series Vol. 7
On 16 September Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings will release the latest installment from the multi-award-winning Miles Davis Bootleg Series, with a 3CD box set collection featuring two discs of previously unreleased studio sessions from 1982-85 plus a third disc, Miles Davis – Live in Montreal July 7, 1983. The latter live album will also be made available as a separate 2LP vinyl release on Record Store Day on Saturday 18 June.
Available in digital and physical formats, the latest chapter in Columbia/Legacy's acclaimed Miles Davis Bootleg Series shines fresh light on an underrated period of the musician's restless, forward-looking musical quest, and frequently features gritty funk grooves and extended improvisations by several hard-hitting line-ups.
The set includes two discs of previously unreleased studio material from the Star People, Decoy and You're Under Arrest sessions, and a third disc showcasing Davis live in Montreal on 7 July 1983. The collection comes in a slipcase with individual album mini-jackets and a booklet featuring liner notes by Marcus J. Moore and revelatory new interviews with Miles' 1980s players including Vince Wilburn, Jr. (drummer and bandmate), John Scofield (electric guitarist), Darryl Jones (bassist), Marcus Miller (bassist) and Mike Stern (guitarist). Also available for pre-order is a 2LP release that collects highlights of the studio material pressed on white vinyl.
Eight of the 10 tracks on CD 1 of Miles Davis - That's What Happened… are unreleased studio tracks from the sessions that resulted in 1983's Star People. The second studio album released after Miles' six-year hiatus from recordings and performing, Star People was the artist's last to feature the studio ingenuity of his longtime producer Teo Macero. Musicians include J.J. Johnson (trombone), Bill Evans (soprano and tenor sax), guitarists Mike Stern and John Scofield, Marcus Miller (electric bass), Al Foster (drums) and Mino Cinélu (percussion) with Miles doubling on trumpet and keyboards (without overdubs). Also on this first disc are ‘Freaky Deaky, Part 1’ and ‘Freaky Deaky, Part 2’which were produced by Davis and feature Scofield, Darryl Jones (electric bass), Robert Irving III (Linn Drum programming) and Mino Cinélu (percussion). Recorded 30 June 1983 at A&R Studios in New York during the Decoy sessions, this previously unreleased cassette recording comes from the collection of John Scofield.
The second CD of That's What Happened… contains unreleased studio recordings from the sessions that gave us 1985's You're Under Arrest. Produced by Miles Davis and Robert Irving III, You're Under Arrest reflected Miles' widescreen approach to politics and music; transforming then-contemporary hits like Cyndi Lauper's ‘Time After Time’ and Michael Jackson's ‘Human Nature’ into new ‘jazz standards’. Musicians include Miles (trumpet), Bob Berg (soprano saxophone), Scofield (guitar), Irving III (keyboards), Jones (electric bass), Foster (drums), Vince Wilburn, Jr. (drums, drum programming, percussion), Steve Thornton (percussion) and John McLaughlin (guitar on ‘Katia [full session]’). The previously unreleased recordings in this set were mixed by Steve Berkowitz and Dave Darlington in 2022 at Bass Hit Recording, NYC.
The third disc showcases one of Davis' final great live bands at Montreal in 1983 with Scofield, Evans, Jones, Foster and Cinélu, plus the trumpeter who was back in top form. The LP includes liner notes penned by late music journalist Greg Tate, who passed away on 7 December 2021. In what was to be one of Tate's final pieces, he provides insight into Davis' process and psyche: “Asked in the 1980s why he changed his music so many times, Miles replied 'You don't change music, music changes you.' He also stridently stated: 'You don't play what the critics tell you to play, you play what your body tells you to play’.”
Miles Davis – That's What Happened 1982-1985: The Bootleg Series Vol. 7 was produced by the multi-Grammy winning team of producers Steve Berkowitz, Michael Cuscuna and Richard Seidel and mastered by multi-Grammy winning Sony Music engineer Mark Wilder. The first track ‘What's Love Got to Do With It’ is available now on Friday 17 June.
For more info visit www.milesdavis.com and the release can be pre-ordered here milesdavis.lnk.to/Bootleg7PR